AFYA or APEI: Which Is the Better Value Stock Right Now?

Investors with an interest in Schools stocks have likely encountered both Afya (AFYA) and American Public Education (APEI). But which of these two stocks presents investors with the better value opportunity right now? Let's take a closer look.

There are plenty of strategies for discovering value stocks, but we have found that pairing a strong Zacks Rank with an impressive grade in the Value category of our Style Scores system produces the best returns. The proven Zacks Rank puts an emphasis on earnings estimates and estimate revisions, while our Style Scores work to identify stocks with specific traits.

Afya and American Public Education are both sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy) right now. This means that both companies have witnessed positive earnings estimate revisions, so investors should feel comfortable knowing that both of these stocks have an improving earnings outlook. But this is just one factor that value investors are interested in.

Value investors are also interested in a number of tried-and-true valuation metrics that help show when a company is undervalued at its current share price levels.

The Value category of the Style Scores system identifies undervalued companies by looking at a number of key metrics. These include the long-favored P/E ratio, P/S ratio, earnings yield, cash flow per share, and a variety of other fundamentals that help us determine a company's fair value.

AFYA currently has a forward P/E ratio of 7.78, while APEI has a forward P/E of 24.50. We also note that AFYA has a PEG ratio of 0.87. This popular metric is similar to the widely-known P/E ratio, with the difference being that the PEG ratio also takes into account the company's expected earnings growth rate. APEI currently has a PEG ratio of 1.63.

Another notable valuation metric for AFYA is its P/B ratio of 1.49. The P/B is a method of comparing a stock's market value to its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. By comparison, APEI has a P/B of 3.57.

These metrics, and several others, help AFYA earn a Value grade of B, while APEI has been given a Value grade of D.

Both AFYA and APEI are impressive stocks with solid earnings outlooks, but based on these valuation figures, we feel that AFYA is the superior value option right now.

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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